Method and apparatus for forming tabs and applying them to shoe buckles or the like



Feb. '17. 1925. 1,526,616 I STUART R. W. METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING TABS AND APPLYING THEM TO SHOE BUCKLES OR THE LIKE 3 sheeisvSheec 1 Filed Aug. 28, 1924 Feb. 17, 1925. 1,526,616

R w. STUART METHOD AND APPARA'i'US FOR FORMING TABS AND APPLYING THE" TO SHOE BUCKLES OR THE LIKE Filed Aug. 28, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ill /m/* 5272? Iii/pf? 255222552.

Feb. 17, 1925. 1,526,616

. R. W. STUART METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING TABS AND APPLYING THEM TO SHOE BUCKLES OR THE LIKE filed Aug. 28, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet I5 Patented Feb. 17, 1925.

l'l E TAT 'l 'lC.

RALPH W. STUART, OF AKRON, OHIO, ASSIGNOE TO B. F. GOODRICI-I COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OE NEW YORK.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING TABS AND APPLYING THEIVI TO SHOE BUCKLES OR THE LIKE.

Application filed August 28, 1924.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RALPH l/V. STUART, a citizen of the United States, residing at Akron, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Method and Apparatus for Forming Tabs and Applying Them to Shoe Buckles or the like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to methods and apparatus for forming tabs and applying them to articles such as shoe-buckle members, as illustrated, for example, in MacDonald United States Patent No. 1,451,167 and MacDonald and Bodle United States Patent My chief object is to provide an improved method whereby the tabs may be accurately and rapidly formed and applied to the articles with less expensive and intricate apparatus than heretofore has been found essential for similarly effective work.

A further, more specific object is to pro vide a method and apparatus whereby certain steps, susceptible of being the more rapidly and economically performed by apparatus, may be so performed, concurrently with the performance by hand of other related operations wherein hand wort may be the more economical, the machine operations and the hand operations thus being combined in a unitary method adapted for rapid and economical production.

In attaining these objects I provide simple apparatus comprising a pair of rolls adapted to draw from a source of supply and feed forward a strip of tab-forming material such as tacky, rubberized fabric, a die mounted upon the periphery of one of said rolls and adapted to act against the other roll substantially to sever, but preferably not completely to sever, the strip at intervals. into tab-lengths, as it is fed forward by the rolls; a folder adapted to pleat the strip as it is drawn forward to the rolls; and a guide sleeve at the delivery side of the rolls, adapted to guide the severed or nearly severed tab-lengths as they are pushed forward by the rolls, said guide sleeve terminating in an unobstructed space in which the buckle-members or the like may be presented to and associated with the tabsuclengths by hand as the tab-lengths in cession emerge from the guide sleeve.

erial No. 734,650.

Of the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of apparatus embodying and adapted to carry out my invention, and the hands of the operator as the appear at one stage in the performance of the method.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one of the operators hands and the work therein, showing the stage at which the tab has been brought into looped form and stuck against itself.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation corresponding to that of Fig. 1 but showing a stage of operation intermediate those of Figs. 1 and 2, and showii'ig the preferred manner of folding over the tab-length and sticking it to itself.

Fig. at is a perspective view of a string of buckle-member assemblies joined together for a rolling operation, and a roller in process of pressing their tabs.

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the apparatus, and a hand of the operator, from the delivery end of the apparatus, showing the latter at the same stage of operation as in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal section on line (56 of Fig.

Referring to the drawings, 10 is a base upon which is secured a pair of standards 11, 11, having a platen roll 12 journalcd therein, said platen roll having a gear 13 secured upon one of its journals and a hand crank 14- secured upon the other. Mounted over and adapted to act against said platen roll is a die-carrying roll 15 having a V- shaped severing die 16 formed thereon, the latter preferably being of such low height to permit the rolls to maintain a grip pen the folded fabric strip, 17, and deeply score the same transversely, as shown at 18, to divide it into successive tab-lengths such as the tab-length 19, but without completely severing the tab-lengths from each other. Because of its ll-shape, the die is adapted to provide a symmetrical, progressive cutting action, such as not to misalign the fea ing or pleating of the strip.

The diecarrying roll 15 is jmirnaled in blocks 20, '20 slidably mounted in guideways 21, 21 formed in the standards 11 and closed at the top by bridge-plates 22, 22, through which respective adjustment screws 23, )3 are threaded, bearing upon the journal blocks, for holding the die-carrying roll down upon the work. Secured upon one of the journals of the die carrying roll is a gear 24 meshed with the gear 13 of the platen roll, so that both rolls are adapted to be driven and at the same speed.

The folder or pleater as here shown com-- prises a simple folding sleeve 25, which preferably is provided with means. such as a pin 26 (Fig. 1) mounted in its wall near its delivery end, for engaging the edges of the strip to maintain it in alignment as it passes through the folder. The sleeve is secured to a base-plate 27 formed with a pair of parallel, longitudinal slots 28, 28, Fig. 4;, in which are mounted screws 29, 29 threaded into a. bracket 30 secured to the standards 11, the sleeve thus being adapted to be adjusted from and toward the rolls 12, 15, to control its folding effect, preferably so as to produce a pleated strip in which the edges of the fabric substantially abut each other at the middle line of the strip, as shown clearly in Fig. 4.

The guide for the tab-lengths 19 preferably comprises a funnel-like sleeve 31, secured to the standards 11 by a bracket 32, and having an aperture of flattened form, converging toward its delivery end, so as to receive the leading end of a tab-length from which the preceding tab-length has been detached and guide it into alignment at the delivery end of the guide, in case the device is so operated as to separate the tab-lengths while the scored portion is still between the die and the delivery end of the guide sleeve.

In the practice of my method with the apparatus described, the strip 17 being started through the apparatus, the operator takes a position at the right of the apparatus as viewed in Fig. 1,:and by means of the hand crank 14; feeds the fabric forward with one hand and with the other hand passes successive buckle members, one of which is shown at 38, onto the successivetablengths as the latter emerge from the guide 31, the tab-length passing through the eye of the buckle-member, and with the buckle-holding hand folds the tab-length obliquely upon itself and sticks its two parts together, in interlinked relation to the buckle-member, as shown in Fig. 2. Concurrently with or immediately after such folding of the tab-length, the driving of the strip-feeding and scoring rolls preferably being stopped at this time, the operator pulls forward the tab-length associated with the buckle-member, breaking such Weak connection as remains, at the scored portion 18, between such tab-length and the one following.

As each successive buckle-member assembly is thus freed from the apparatus it is associated with the preceding assemblies as shown in Fig. 4:, the obliquely folded tabs of adjacent assemblies being overlapped and stuck together in such manner that they interfit, as shown, and form in effect a sheet, having the same number of fabric plies and consequently the same thickness throughout. This sheet of tabs is then pressed, as by rolling it with a hand roller 34 upon a table 35, which may be the support for the apparatus described, this pressing operation being shown in Fig. 4, whereby the folded halves of each tab-length are further compacted and stuck together, and adjacent tabs are so stuck together as to permit the row of assemblies to be handled as a unit until such time as the individual assemblies are pulled apart from each other for use in the building of shoes.

The details of procedure whereby the buckle-members are associated with the successive tab-lengths may be considerably varied within the scope of my invention, but Figs. 1 and 3 of the accompanying drawings illustrate a preferred form of the method. In proceeding in accordance with this preferred form the starting position of the hand crank 14 is such that the scored but undetached tab length protrudes about half an inch from the guide sleeve 31, as shown in Fig. 1. lVith the crank held by one hand and stopped in this position the operator starts a buckle member 33, with the other hand, onto the protruding end of the tab-length and then turns the crank with the first hand through approximately half of a revolution and there stops it. Near the end of this movement of the hand crank the forefinger of the buckle-manipulat-ing hand is moved up under the delivery end of the guide sleeve 31, into contact with the sleeve and with the portion of the buckle member below the latters eye, the buckle member being supported chiefly by the tab length during this shifting of the hand, while the forward portion of the tab-length is bent upward and over by the thumb and pressed obliquely against the opposite half of the tab-length, adjacent the buckle member. During this operation] the forefinger, interposed between and in contact with the .guide sleeve and the buckle member, serves to space the two a proper distance apart to result in -a folding of the tab-length approximately at its .middle, the stopping position of the hand crank being appropriately controlled, as described. The operator is thus enabled to perform these several steps, and control their accuracy, very largely by touch.

As soon as the tab-length has been folded, as described, approximately into contact with itself adjacentthe buckle-member, the hand crank is turned through a second half-revolution, feeding the following tablength until it protrudes, preferably about Cal half an inch, from the delivery end of the guide sleeve. Concurrently with this feed ing movement the operator, pinching the assembled and folded tab-length between thumb and forefinger, jerks it forward, breaking its connection with the following tab-length, and applies the buckle-assembly to those previously deposited upon the table, in the manner above described.

Another buckle is then started upon the succeeding tab-length and the assembling operation as described is repeated until a determinate number of the assemblies are associated upon the table, after which they are pressed by means of the hand roller 34 and laid aside.

The practice of my invention as described results in a very accurately formed and assembled tab, and as the operations are substantially identical as between successive buckle assemblies they soon become intuitive, and may be very rapidly performed.

Details of the procedure as well as of the apparatus may be modified without departing from the scope of my invention, and I do not wholly limit my claims to the exact form thereof which is here shown and described.

I claim:

1. The method of applying tabs to arti cles which comprises extending successive tab-lengths in like position beyond a terminal support, manually associating an art-icle with each of said tab-lengths while the tab-length is held in position by said support, and manually folding each of said tablengths upon itself in looped engagement with the article. t

2. The method of forming tabs and applying them to articles which comprises mechanically feeding a strip of tab-forming material past a terminal support and trans versely cutting it at intervals, without completely severing it, as it passes to the terminus of said support, to divide it into successive tab-lengths, manually associating an article with each tab-length thus extended, and, by manually pulling the tab-length, detaching it from the succeeding tab-length.

The method of applying tabs to apertured articles which comprises .feeding lightly connected tab-lengths of rubberized fabric past a terminal support, manually passing one of the apertured articles onto each of the tab-lengths as they in succession are thus extended beyond said support, manually folding each tab-length upon and sticking it to itself in interlinked relation to the article, and, by manually pulling the tab-length, detaching it from the succeeding tab length.

4c. The method of applying tabs to apertured articles which comprises feeding successive tab-lengths of material, by the operation of one hand, to extend them in succession past a terminal support and, with the other hand alone, passing one of the articles onto the projecting end portion of each tablength and folding the tab-length upon itself in interlinked relation to the article as the articles are thus presented in succession.

The method of applying tabs to apertured articles which comprises extending successive tab-lengths in like position beyond a terminal support, manually passing one of the articles onto the projecting end portion of each tab-length. as it is thus presented, and manually folding the talrlength upon itself in interlinked relation to the article, the manual operations defined being gaged by contact of the hand with the terminal support.

6. The method of applying tabs to articles which comprises feeding lightly connected tab-lengths of material, by the operation of one hand, to extend them in succession past a terminal suppoit and, with the other hand alone, associating one of the articles with the projecting end portion of each tab-length, gaging the position of the article by contact of the hand with said terminal support, folding the tab-length upon itself about a part of the article, and detaching the tab-length from the succeeding tab-length.

7. The method of assembling tabs with articles which comprises looping a tablength of adhesive material about a part of each article and sticking the two legs of the looped tab-length together in oblique relation to each other, and sticking together the tabs of successive assemblies thus produced so as to form in effect a continuous sheet of the tabs.

8. The method of assembling tabs with articles which comprises. looping a tablength of adhesive material about a part of each article and sticking the two legs of the looped tab-length together in oblique relation to each other, sticking together the tabs of a plurality of assemblies thus produced so as to form in effect a continuous sheet of the tabs, and pressing said sheet.

9. Tab-applying apparatus comprising means for longitudinally feeding a succession of lightly connected tab-lengths of material, and supporting and guiding means for the tab-lengths, positioned on the delivery side of, and in alignment with the feed of, said feeding means, and terminating in an unobstructed space such as to permit free manual manipulation of a tab-length projecting from said supporting and guiding means, the terminus of said supporting and guiding means being so spaced from said feeding means that the latter will continue to engage one tab-length while the preceding tab-length extends beyond said ter minus.

10 and terminating, in an unobstructed 10. Tab-applying apparatus comprising a pair of rolls adapted to feed a continuous strip of tab-forming material, die-cutting means on one of said rolls adapted to Weaken said strip at intervals to divide it into tab-lengths as it passes between said rolls, a hand crank for driving said rolls, and strip-supporting and guiding means positioned on the delivery side of said rolls space,

at such distance from said rolls, with relation to the distance between cuts of said diecutting means, as to permit said rolls to continue to engage one tab-length While the preceding tabdength is extended beyond the 15 terminus of said strip-supporting and guid- 111; means.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 28rd day of August, 1924.

RALPH W. STUART. 

